The invention relates to a gas valve unit for adjusting a volumetric gas flow supplied to a gas burner of a gas appliance, in particular a gas cooking appliance, wherein the gas valve unit has at least two open/close valves.
Gas valve units of the aforesaid type are described, for example, in the publications EP0818655A2 and WO2004063629A1. By means of gas valve units of this type the volumetric gas flow supplied to a gas burner of a gas cooking appliance can be controlled in a plurality of stages. In this case the volumetric gas flow possesses a reproducible magnitude at each stage. The through-flow cross-section of the gas valve unit overall—and hence the magnitude of the volumetric gas flow—is adjusted by opening or closing specific open/close valves of the gas valve unit and thereby releasing or interrupting the gas flow through specific throttle openings.
In the known generic gas valve units the open/close valves are actuated individually by electromagnetic means. Toward that end each of the open/close valves is assigned a separate electromagnet which opens and closes the open/close valve. The electromagnets are energized and deenergized by means of an electronic control unit. Said electronic control unit processes the signals generated by an operator of the gas cooking appliance by means of an electrical control element and controls the electromagnets of the open/close valves accordingly.